BY PRINCELY ONYENWE,IMO

According to Steve Uzoechi of New Telegram newspaper,
Elders of Owerri senatorial zone otherwise known as Imo West have called on Governor Hope Uzodinma to distance himself from any advice or group recommending the use of unorthodox means to achieve his administration’s asset recovery policy.

This is also as the elders drawn from nine council areas of Owerri zone disowned a group, ‘Owerri Zone Leaders of Thought’ which had earlier endorsed and urged Uzodinma to use extra-judicial means to recover properties allegedly acquired by for governors of the state particularly Senator Rochas Okorocha. These were contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a meeting of the elders yesterday in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

Governor Hope Uzodinma at the Mbari Declaration

Reading the communiqué, Chief Marcus Onwuanibe (Aboshi) said that the faceless group which was unknown to Owerri people had crossed the line when they advised Uzodinma to do the unthinkable and deploy unlawful means in handling his feud with Senator Rochas Okorocha and in the recovery of public assets.

It reads: “Aside from heavily insulting the former governor of the State and Senator Representing Imo West Senatorial District, Senator Rocha Okorocha, the so-called ‘Leaders of Thought’ also encouraged Governor Hope Uzodinma to employ self-help or unorthodox approach in handling whatever issue the government has with the former governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha. “As elders from Owerri Zone, we found such developments as very unhealthy. And bearing in mind the wrong impressions such statements must have left in the minds of well-meaning people of Imo State and the public in general, we, the elders from Owerri Zone, decided to meet and objectively look at what is happening in the State at the moment and offer our pieces of advice for the good of the Zone and the State in general.”

This may bring in a sharp divide to disenfranchise Owerri Zone in the next Imo governorship contest 2023.